Early career

In 1987, after her studies, Marant worked with Parisian designer Michel Klein. Later she also collaborated with Bridget Yorke working on two collections and assisted art director Marc Ascoli on different projects for Chloé, Martine Sitbon, and Yohji Yamamoto.^[1] However, working in other houses was a frustrating experience for her, and soon Marant decided to continue alone.^[4] In 1989, she launched her own jewellery label, and in 1990 with her mother, she launched a knitwear label "Twen".^[1]

Brand's logo

Isabel Marant

In 1994, she launched her eponymous brand – Isabel Marant.^[5] The following year, in 1995, she showed her first collection at Paris Fashion Week with her friends as models.^[7] In 1997 Marant won the Award de la Mode, and in 1998 – the Whirlpool Award for best female designer.^[1] Since the establishment of her label, her sales have increased 30% each year.^[7]

In 1998, she opened the first shop on Rue Charonne, in eastern Paris.^[6] The same year she started collaborating with French mail catalogue brand La Redoute creating guest collections for it, and launched a new line in Japan called I*M.^[1] In 1999 Marant debuted a diffusion line, Étoile by Isabel Marant, at the Paris ready-to-wear shows, and the next year introduced the first full Étoile collection.^[1] Etoile was intended to be more affordable and casual than the signature brand.^[8] The second shop was opened in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in 1999, followed by the third in the Marais in 2007, and the fourth in the 16th arrondissement in 2012.^[5]

In 2004, Marant launched a childrenswear line and a pop-up boutique in Paris' Printemps department store. She also collaborated with Anthropologie on a collection in 2006.^[1] The same year, in 2006, she opened a boutique in Hong Kong, and in 2010 opened her first United States boutique in New York.^[5] Marant's managing director reported wholesale revenues reached 66 million Euros for 2011, which was up 44% on 2010.^[6]

In 2012, Marant was awarded Fashion Designer of the Year at British Glamour's Women of the Year Awards.^[1]

In 2013, Marant collaborated on a design collection for high street chain H&M.^[9] The line sold out in 45 minutes online and caused the retailer's website to crash.^[10] In her collaboration with H&M, Marant said, "The nice thing with H&M is they don't want to try to do a cheap version of your own collection… They really respect the DNA of designers."^[7] The clothing was described as a "combination of androgynous chic and bohemian nonchalance."

In 2014, Marant was named Contemporary Designer of the Year at the Elle Style Awards in 2014.^[2]

As of 2019, the company has 13 shops worldwide in cities such as Paris, Rome, New York,^[11] Tokyo,^[12] Hong Kong, Seoul, Los Angeles, Beijing, Madrid, Beirut, and London^[13] and has retailers in more than 35 countries.

Style

When Marant studied fashion at Studio Berçot, the director said “You shouldn't want others to wear things that you won't wear yourself”, and this phrase became her motto.^[4] Marant collections are based around several simple pieces such as tight and straight trousers; soft and unstructured shirts and blouses; as well as tailored jackets and coats.^[6] Her apparel is often embellished with prints, fringes, embroidery, studs or lace. Marant's typical outfit allows the wearer to be between boho and rock chic with a loose blouse and a pair of cropped leather trousers. The collections never change radically which makes it easy to combine pieces from different seasons.^[6]

Marant designed hidden heel high-top sneakers that lengthen legs and make feet look tiny remaining comfortable at the same time. They became the brand's most pervasive trend with a million copies sold.^[14]

Controversies

In 2008, Marant won a claim against French fashion chain Naf Naf that was ordered to pay her 75,000 Euros damages for copying a puff-sleeved dress from her autumn-winter 2006 collection.^[1]

In 2015, the indigenous Mixe community of Santa María Tlahuitoltepec, in Oaxaca, Mexico, denounced Marant for the plagiarism of the collectively owned traditional design embroidered in their Mixe blouses.^[15] A Twitter storm followed under the hashtag #miBlusadeTlahui, which pointed out the uncanny similarity of some of Marant's recent designs to those of indigenous designers from Tlahuitoltepec, who have been designing and making their original hand-sewn shirts for over 600 years in the style of the Mixe indigenous people. Marant's uncredited appropriation of the designs, virtually stitch-for-stitch, aroused the anger of the Mixe people for whom the handmade manufacture of the shirts, and their sale, is an important economic and cultural factor.

The plagiarism issue continued to dog Marant, being taken up by the UK Guardian newspaper in June 2015 by journalist Naomi Larsson, who reported that yet another design company named Antik Batik had claimed copyright on the disputed garment, and quoted Marant's office as admitting the design was from Tlahuitoltepec as a defence against the claim. The Mixe people had received no communication of this acknowledgement, according to the report.^[16] In 2016, the community again demanded an apology from Marant and Antik Batik at a press conference in Mexico City.^[17]